The former Kentucky Fried Chicken building located at 200 New Hartford Road in Winsted, which may be converted into a pharmacy specializing in the sale of marijuana.
Register Citizen File Photo

WINSTED >> With the adoption of new a new zoning regulation, the prospect of having a medical marijuana dispensary in Winsted is again on the table. The group vying to replace a defunct Kentucky Fried Chicken building with a medical marijuana dispensary had its application denied in December but, following these regulation changes, will again go before the zoning board on March 24.

James Dietz, President of Nutmeg State Health and Wellness Center Inc., submitted his initial plans last year to turn the vacant KFC on 200 New Hartford Road into a medical marijuana dispensary. The denial of the original application was primarily because the board said zoning regulations didn’t address this unique kind of facility. With the regulations now changed, Dietz and his ilk will have a second opportunity to have their application accepted by the zoning board.

“Everything is the same; it’s just going to be re-submitted as it was back then,” Dietz said. “We didn’t have to make any changes to it.”

On Monday the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to put in an addition to its regulations specifically defining the application process for a medical marijuana dispensary or a medical marijuana production facility. Dietz’s application is for a dispensary and not a production facility, meaning that he would be unable to grow the drug on site.

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The new zoning text defines a medical marijuana dispensary facility as “a place of business where medical marijuana may be dispensed or sold at retail to qualifying patients and primary caregivers” who have proper permits.

A section defining a medical marijuana production facility was also added to the regulations.

Passing local zoning is just one step for Dietz and his facility. His company also has an application in to the state—one of 26 applicants spread across Connecticut—looking to receive licensing like four marijuana-growing facilities did in late January. Theraplant in Watertown, Advanced Grow Labs in West Haven, Curaleaf in Simsbury and Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions in Portland all received state licensing.

“We’re talking about patients with cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, PTSD and other debilitating illnesses,” Gov. Dannel Malloy said at a January press conference in West Haven announcing the licensing.

According to the state, only three to five dispensary permits will be granted and only one per county.

“Given that they’ve issued more producer licenses than they said they would we’re hoping that they’ll also issue more dispensary licenses than the three to five they originally proposed,” Dietz said. “We’re hoping they’ll maybe double that number.”

Since they have been working extensively with the town in previous months, they “fully anticipate being approved this time,” Dietz wrote in an email. He wrote that his group also remains optimistic in being awarded a dispensary license from the state, possibly as soon as April.

“Our concern is patient access to dispensaries,” Dietz said. “The last thing you want is people having to drive a two-hour round trip to have to get their medication every month. Our standing is the more dispensaries the better.”

The licensing process is very competitive, according to Claudette Carveth, spokesperson for the Department of Consumer Protection. Litchfield, Hartford, New Haven, New London and Fairfield were described as “preferred locations” for Connecticut dispensaries.

Dietz and his team told the Register Citizen in December that there is no Plan B here. They have already submitted a 500-page application to the state, put forth countless man hours and paid roughly $15,000 in application fees associated with the dispensary and a deposit on the building. The money is not refundable, he said.